Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0042963 (vomiting)
 31,883 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Since the late 70s of the last century there were more than 700 incidents related to the use of the ricin toxin. For this reason, CDC (Center of Disease Control and Prevention) recognized toxin as a biological weapon category B. The lethal dose of ricin toxin after parenteral administration is 0.0001 mg/kg and after oral administration 0.2 mg. The first symptoms of poisoning occur within a few hours after application of toxin as a nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In the final stage there are observed: cardiac arrhythmia, collapse and symptoms suggestive of involvement of the central nervous system. Stage immediately preceding death is a state of coma. The ricin toxin is still the substance against which action has no optimal antidote. Developed a vaccine called RiVax is waiting for its registration. It should be pointed out that the availability of a ricin toxin makes it possible to use it for real bioterrorists.
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PMID:[Today's threat of ricin toxin]. 2644 79

Seeds of the castor bean plant Ricinuscommunis L (CB) contain ricin toxin (RT), one of the most poisonous naturally-occurring substances known. Ricin toxin, a water-soluble glycoprotein that does not partition into the oil extract, is a ribosome-inactivating toxin composed of two chains, labeled A and B. Severity of the toxicity varies depending on the route of exposure to the toxin. Inhalational is the most toxic route, followed by oral ingestion. Orally-ingested RT accumulates in the liver and spleen but other cells are also affected. The main clinical manifestations are also related to the administration route. Oral ingestion of CB or RT results in abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, and various types of gastrointestinal bleeding that leading to volume depletion, hypovolemic shock, and renal failure. Inhalation of the toxin presents with non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema, diffuse necrotizing pneumonia, interstitial and alveolar inflammation, and edema. Local injection of RT induces indurations at the injection site, swelling of regional lymph nodes, hypotension, and death. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) has been developed to detect RT in animal tissues and fluids. Ricinine, an alkaloid of CB, can be detected in rat urine within 48 h of RT exposure. Supportive care is the basic treatment and standard biowarfare decontamination protocols are used for RT intoxication. Dexamethasone and difluoromethylornithine might be effective treatments. This review examines the clinical and molecular aspects of ricin toxicity.
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PMID:Ricin Toxicity: Clinical and Molecular Aspects. 2753 98

A 30-year-old woman presented to the emergency department 2 days after ingestion of 50 castor beans. Her symptoms on admission were vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramps, agitation and anxiety. Initial laboratory tests showed a slightly elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) and mild liver and kidney dysfunction The patient was transferred to the medium care unit of our hospital where she was observed for possible organ failure. During the next days the kidney function improved and liver function started to recover. Four days after admission, the patient was transferred to the psychiatric ward. Urine, serum, plasma and whole-blood samples were analyzed for ricinine using a quantitative LC-MS-MS method. Initial values on admission (serum and urine) were very high in comparison with previously reported cases. Based on these values, the patient was monitored closely in the following days. The patient made a full recovery and during the course of hospitalization, concentrations of ricinine in plasma/serum, blood and urine gradually declined. The presence of ricinine in a patient's blood or plasma is proof of castor bean, hence, ricin exposure. However, based on this case and previous reported cases in literature, we can conclude that no clear correlation can be established between ricinine blood, plasma or urine levels and the severity of the intoxication. Clinicians should be aware of the potential danger of a ricin intoxication and patients should be monitored closely for several days due to the unpredictable outcome of the intoxication.
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PMID:Non-Lethal Intoxication by Ingestion of 50 Castor Beans: Serial Measurement of Ricinine in Blood, Plasma, and Urine. 3299 82


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